September 28 marks the 95th birth anniversary of Lata Mangeshkar. He passed away on February 6, 2022. Even though Lata is no longer in this world, her voice is still immortal. To get to this point, Lata’s life has seen many ups and downs.
There are untold stories from her life that she herself told in her biography Lata Surgatha…
Chapter 1: Childhood
I got angry after listening to the teacher, I left the school It was a mistake to never go to school. I went to school once. There was a Marathi secondary school near my house where my cousin, Sister Basanti, studied. One day, when I was going to school with him, the teacher asked me: “Who are you?” I replied: I am the daughter of Dinanath Mangeshkar. Hearing this, he said he was a great singer. Can you sing anything?
I made him sing the song after which he admitted me to the school. I took my younger sister Asha, who was only ten months old, to the first day of school. The teacher said that these little children are not allowed to be brought to school. Hearing this, I got angry, left the class halfway and went home.
After that, I never saw the face of the school again. I studied at home with the help of those around me. I also learned Marathi, Hindi, English, Sanskrit and Urdu.
Chapter 2: Responsibility
I entered the cinema at the age of 13 to run the house “It was around 1942. By that time, my father Dinanath Mangeshkar had passed away. At the age of 13, the responsibility for the entire family fell on my shoulders. In such a situation, I had to work in films even unintentionally. Raising four siblings at home in addition to my mother was a challenge, for which I found the right path by working in cinema. Master Vinayak gave me the role of the actress’s younger sister in her debut film Mangalagore.
During the filming, Master Vinayak had a falling out with the studio and left the film. This film was again directed by director RS Junnardev had completed it. From 1942 to 1947, I worked in five films. These included Majhe Jhol (1943), Gajabhau (1944), Badi Maa (1945), Jeevan Yatra (1946), Subhadra (1946) and Mandir (1948).
Chapter 3: Struggle
Lata wore a saree worth Rs 12 in poverty
No one would know that in 1947-48, sarees were available at the ration shop. When I started working, my situation was not good. In such a situation, I wore the sarees available at the ration shop.
“These sarees were made of cotton and had a thin red border on the edges. At that time, these sarees were available for Rs 12. I used to buy them and wash them with my own hands and after drying them, I slept with them on my pillow.
Due to the fact that they were pressed to the pillow, in the morning the saris became as if they had been ironed. At that time, I didn’t even have enough money to iron sarees and wear them.
Chapter 4: Family
Uncle said: this girl will ruin the family name “When I was 14, I went from Kolhapur to Mumbai with my aunt to sing in a show. Here I stayed with my uncle Kamalnath Mangeshkar. As soon as I got home, I started practicing. My only effort was for no one to ask questions on my father’s behalf.
But my uncle was angry with me. Looking at me, he said, this girl will spoil Bhai Dinanath Mangeshkar’s name. Where is this good singer and where is this girl. This girl won’t be able to sing properly and the whole family’s name will be ruined.
My aunt Vijay also had the same thoughts as my uncle. I was very hurt after hearing these words from these people and I started crying. Then my aunt explained to me that I should just concentrate on my singing without listening to anyone.
The next day, I gave my performance. Actress Lalita Pawar was also present at this show as a spectator. He really liked my song. Lalita Pawar gave me gold earrings as a reward.
Chapter 5: Success
When Jawahar Lal Nehru said: “This girl made me cry” “During the Chinese invasion in 1962, Pt. Pradeep (the poet Pradeep) wrote the patriotic song “Ae Mere Watan Ke Logo”. He had asked me to sing this song on the occasion of Republic Day, January 26, 1963. When I sang this song, Jawaharlal Nehru could not hold back his tears.
After the song, I was drinking coffee behind the stage when director Mehboob Khan came to me and said Panditji is calling you.
He took it in front of Nehru and said, “Here is our creeper. How did you like his song?
Nehru said:
Alright. This girl brought tears to my eyes.
Saying this, he hugged me.
Chapter 6: Controversy
I said about Rafi, he had a misunderstanding “About the fight with Mohammed Rafi over royalty, Lata had said: I see it more as a fight of principles than as a dispute or quarrel.
When I raised this issue, I started to worry about my future. It seemed like if I worked now, I had work, but what about tomorrow?
That’s why I told the music companies that they should give part of the profits from the sale of records to the singers in exchange for the songs. The controversy started on this subject.
Rafi Saheb said that once we have taken the money for the song, what is the point of asking for more money? I argued that once we sing a song, records of these films continue to be made and sold for years, the profits of which will go to the record companies and film producers, while the hard work that goes into The result is ours.
Companies will continue to make profits and singers will be forced to live miserable lives. Mukesh, Manna Dey, Talat Mehmood and Kishore Kumar were in favor of this proposal, but Rafi Saheb, Asha ji and some singers did not agree with it. I had the impression that Rafi Saheb was not fully aware of the problem and had misunderstood. The result was that Rafi Sahab and I didn’t sing together for years.
Raised voice in the workplace, left recording “The story dates back to 1949. I was recording the song “Hey Chhore Ki Jaat Badi Bewafa” from the film Chandni Raat. Naushad was the music director of this film. The male singer was GM Durrani.
After singing his line, Durrani started doing mischief. Naushad ji explained to him that this is creating a hindrance in registration, don’t do this.
When the recording of the song began after a break, Durrani’s actions increased. He made fun of the fact that I was wearing a white saree and said, why do you come wrapped in a white sheet, why don’t you wear colorful clothes?
Apart from that he also asked about my jewelry. I stopped recording halfway through. I thought GM Durrani would focus more on my singing than my clothes and jewelry, but that didn’t happen. After that, I decided I would never work with him.
Now know some interesting facts related to Lata…
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Sketch: Sandeep Pal
Graphics: Kunal Sharma